FIGHT WITH APES.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20541, 16 February 1935, Page 21 (Supplement)

FIGHT WITH APES.

Vicious-tempered Female Attacks Man. EXCHANGES FREEDOM FOR CAGE A RECENT newcomer to the London Zoo is a female gibbon ape presented by the Duke of Westminster. This animal was one of a pair of gibbons kept at large on a small island in the middle of a lake in the grounds of Eaton Hall, but although life under these conditions made the male ape grow tame and gentle, it had the opposite effect on his companion, says the London “ Daily Telegraph.” She gradually became notorious for her vicious temper, and the attendant found it impossible to land on the island even to feed them, and had been compelled to throw them their food. As long as the ill-tempered gibbon was isolated on the island she had no chance of getting into mischief, but it was realised that a spell of frost would give her an opportunity to escape. If the lake froze she would no longer be captive, but would be in a position to walk to freedom over the Accordingly, a message was sent to the Zoo asking that a keeper should come to capture the erring ape and take her back to a cage in the menagerie. A Zoo keeper duly arrived on the scene, equipped with nets and a cage. When he reached the island he found both apes waiting for him at the w r ater’s edge. The male promptly jumped on the man’s back, while the irate female lost no time in attacking. A long and strenuous struggle followed. The keeper was bitten and scratched in many places before he at length managed to secure the ape. The male gibbon made no attempt to fight for his mate. As a rule all simians, no matter how tame they may be, will always unite to protect one of their number from an intruder, but the gibbon merely looked on, and seemed quite content to lose his shrewish wife. When the new ape was placed on view in the monkey house it was observed that her adventures had not sweetened her temper. She is, however, one of the finest gibbon apes ever seen at the Zoo.